A/N: I'm a little 'meh' about this chapter. Tell me what you think. Things will start to get a bit more exciting soon, I promise.
Hermione gasped as the Mercedes turned into the driveway of what she was sure had once been a small hotel deep in the woods just a few miles from where she had met Carlisle and Alice. The outside was brick inlaid with large windows, two stories, with a flat rooftop topped with what looked like a small garden. Out on the lawn sat what looked to be an old stable turned into a multi-car garage. A Porshe, a Land Rover, another Mercedes and a Volvo sat inside the open doors. Behind the house was a large clearing, a stone porch and a small waterfall placed close to the house. She felt like she had no time to mentally prepare herself to meet the rest of her new family before the car stopped with a small jerk and Edward was opening the door for her. She stayed close to Edward as they followed Alice into the main house. She was shocked by what she saw. Most of the house was a giant open room, with a half-sized balcony overhanging. There was a door to another wing to one side, and a kitchen area to the other. All the furniture was white and looked to be brand new. Looking up she could see a billiard table up on the second floor along with a large screen television. Every flat surface seemed to have a vase with brilliant blooms placed on it.
"This is amazing," she whispered, unable to pry herself from looking even though she had scanned the area a half dozen times.
"Esme wouldn't have it any other way," Edward smiled, squeezing her hand supportively.
"Hello, Hermione," Esme smiled, coming up to give her a gentle hug. "How are you?"
"A little overwhelmed," she answered truthfully.
"It is a lot to take in," Jasper came forward to shake her hand and introducing himself.
"Let me show you around," Alice grabbed her hand. She showed her the extensive DVD collection, Edward's piano, the kitchen ("It's mostly for show"), and their giant game closet. She then led her to the other wing and told her that these were their personal bedrooms.
"Esme's," she said, pointing to the door. "Carlisle's, Jasper's, mine, Rosalie's, Emmett's..."
"Rosalie and Emmett?" Hermione asked, somewhat surprised.
"Our other brother and sister. They'll be here soon. But I'm sure I'll bore you with details about them before you get a chance to meet them," Alice flashed a patented smile back. "Edward's room..." Hermione caught a glimpse of walls covered in CDs before being pulled to the very end of the hall. "And your room," she finished grandly opening the door. The room was bare, white carpeted, white walls, a large picture window on one wall.
"It's not much," Alice said, frowning, "because I don't know how you want to decorate it. We'll work on that the next couple of days. But I did stock the closet for you."
Nervously Hermione opened the door to the large closet, and was floored by how much stuff Alice had managed to pack into there. Along one wall garment bags were packed so tightly together that she was afraid if she tried to pull one out the rest would come shooting out at her. The back wall was covered in so many racks of shoes that she thought Alice must have just pulled part of a shoe store out and carried, in tact, to this closet. The other wall contained an assortment of everyday looking clothes arranged by color, including around fifty pairs of jeans.
"I don't like them," Alice said as Hermione ran her hands over the denim. "They're too plain, but they tend to fit in easily, and Esme thought you'd be more comfortable if you didn't just have dresses and designer clothes."
"But these are designer jeans," Hermione said, pulling out a pair she knew retailed for about two hundred dollars.
"It was a compromise," Alice shrugged. "What do you think? How should we do your room up?"
Hermione looked over the spotless white room. She had a brief vision of the room at her parents house when she was growing up, simple, a small bed, a dresser, a bookshelf, and lots of toys. There was no need for a bed here, she had a closet so full of clothes she couldn't imagine wearing all of them before they were out of style (at which point she was sure Alice would purge the thing and refill it), so that left a bookshelf and 'toys'. She had unlimited time now, what would she do with it?
"Would you get mad if I wanted to remove the carpet?" she asked, running a foot over the brand new carpet and feeling somewhat stupid for asking.
"No!" Alice said excitedly. "What were you thinking? Hardwood?"
"Some sort of stone, actually," she muttered, the vision of her ideal room starting to swim in her head. "With a stone topped table over here, something I could have a fire on. A fireplace over there, a bookshelf, a supply cabinet, and I guess somewhere to sit and read. Maybe a desk, too. And curtains to block out the sun when I need it."
"It sounds like you're turning the place into somewhat of a dungeon."
"Exactly!" Hermione said excitedly. "Somewhere I can practice Potion making."
"Oh, how fun!" Alice jumped up and down, clapping her hands in excitement. "What kind of potions were you thinking of making?"
"Well, I have access to vampire venom. Maybe I could work on finding an antidote." There were other things she wanted to try as well, but the less Alice knew, at least for the moment, the better.
Alice looked at her and nodded but said nothing. She immediately started talking about which blinds would be best to block out the sunlight, and what kind of stone would be good for the floor.
"We can go to town to go shopping," Alice suddenly looked excited. She led Hermione outside towards the cars and tossed her a key to one of the Mercedes.
Hermione stopped dead and looked at the key in her hand. "Um..." she muttered.
"The burgundy one," Alice said, pointing to the car on the left side of the garage.
"Maybe you should drive."
"It's your car. You should drive."
"My car?" her mouth fell open.
"Yes. We weren't sure what kind you usually drive, so we guessed."
"You didn't have to get me a car."
"Sure we did. You're family. Everyone gets a car."
"I never learned how to drive," she admitted sheepishly.
Alice stopped short. "Never?"
"Witches and wizards don't need cars. We Apparate, usually."
"Apparate?"
Rather than explain Hermione turned on the spot and disappeared with a small pop. There was another pop as she re-appeared across the clearing. Two more pops sounded as she returned.
"That is so cool!" Alice squealed. "How far can you go?"
"Miles and miles. I'm not sure the exact limits."
"Since I can't Apparate," she said, looking like she'd love nothing more than the ability to move faster than she already did, "do you mind if we drive to town?"
"No problem," Hermione smiled.
Alice bounced to the Mercedes and started making herself comfortable.
"Enjoying yourself?" Edward's voice sounded behind Hermione. She startled and turned around ready to defend herself.
"Sorry," she apologized when she looked into his eyes.
"Alice?" he asked, turning to his sister. "Can I borrow Hermione? She is new, maybe she's not ready to go to town quite yet."
Alice looked a little disappointed, but nodded. Edward took Hermione's hand and steered her towards the waterfall. "She gets a little excited sometimes," Edward muttered as the Mercedes flew out of the driveway, leaving a small trail of dust behind it.
"It's all a lot to take in, and she just keeps going and going," Hermione muttered. "And what I really want to learn is how to hunt properly so I don't hurt anyone else."
"When you start to feel thirstier again, we'll hunt. I won't promise we won't run into temptation, so it would probably be best if we don't wait until you're very thirsty anymore. And this forest should be a good place to hunt. There were some larger animals in there."
"Magical animals," Hermione nodded.
"Were they? I didn't know. I didn't see much of them, I was too busy moving to take a good look. I saw a unicorn..."
"Oh!" Hermione exclaimed. "You don't want to drink from those."
"Why not?"
"You drink unicorn blood, and you're cursed."
"Any more than we already are?" he raised an eyebrow.
"You're not too thrilled with being a vampire, are you?"
"Of course not. Are you?"
"It's not my ideal station in life. But it's something I'm going to have to come to terms with."
He studied her face. "Tell me honestly. Would you have preferred me to leave you dead on that battlefield?"
She thought for a moment. "That's a hard question to answer."
"You don't fear death?"
She laughed. "If I feared death I've been hanging around the wrong people since I started Hogwarts. I haven't had it as bad as Harry, but I've narrowly escaped death more times than I probably should have."
"Would you consider this an escape?"
"Depends on how much stock you put into the stories about Death. If I view him as a being that is actually wandering the world looking for people to claim, then yes, I believe this is an escape from Death. And I'm really starting to lean that direction."
"What would make you lean that direction?"
"The Three Brothers," she stated plainly. As he looked at her in curiosity she recited, from memory, Beetle the Bard's tale. "When I was drifting in an out of consciousness Harry told me that they were real. And I trust what he's telling me. So if the three brothers truly got gifts from Death than Death must be some sort of entity roaming the earth."
"Or entities," Edward added quietly. She must not have heard the utterance. "This story, it's obviously a Wizard's story."
"It's actually a children's story in the wizarding world, but yes, it's for wizards. If only I had my beaded bag..."
Edward suddenly stood and raced into the house. Seconds later he was back by her side, clutching the worn handbag.
"Harry give this to you?" she asked, taking it.
"Yes, but he told me not to look in it. I don't see why not. You must have lead in there for it to be so damn heavy."
Smiling she opened the bag and started pulling books out. Edward's jaw dropped continuously lower as she kept pulling book after book from the depths of the bag.
"How did you manage to fit a whole library in there?" he asked in astonishment.
"Expansion charm," she replied, reaching her arm in up to the shoulder and pulling out the old copy of The Tales of Beetle the Bard. "Here it is, the original text of the Three Brothers story, among others.
Edward took the book carefully and opened it. "Either you think this is funny, or magical text is encrypted so non-magic eyes can't read it."
"They're ancient runes. I have the book for translations somewhere in here," she smiled, patting the stack of books. "I could teach you to translate. It's not like we don't have time on our hands."
Edward smiled at her as she started putting books back in the bag. "Anything else in that mobile bookstore you call a purse?"
"Just some clothes, my money, some odds and ends, a tent..."
"A tent?" he couldn't help the shock in his voice.
"Harry, Ron, and I had to sleep somewhere all those months on the run," she said, rummaging through until she found the tent. She pulled it out, and with a wave of her wand it erected itself.
"You fit three people in there?" Edward sneered at the tiny, ragged looking fabric. "You must be the best of friends."
Hermione stuck her tongue out. "Go in there. It's roomier than you'd think."
Cautiously Edward opened the flap, but jumped back in alarm when he saw the inside was much different than he expected.
"Honestly," she muttered as he ran into her. "All you've seen me do, and you get surprised that not all is what it seems?"
"Carlisle is going to love that thing."
"He can use it whenever he wants. It's the least I could do, you taking me in and all."
"He would never leave a stranded vampire asking for help. It's not in his nature."
"Just like it's not in Alice's nature to let someone dress themselves, it seems. Which is why you might not want to mention my little bag of tricks. I have some outfits in here I'm rather fond of, but she'd never let me keep them."
He motioned zipping his lips shut.
"Thank you. Now, what other animals did you see in the forest?" she asked, sitting down and looking at him expectantly.
Unbeknown to them, Esme was watching the two from the rooftop garden as Hermione explained the different creatures she knew resided in the Forbidden Forest.
"How are they getting along?" Carlisle asked, appearing at her side.
"She fascinates him," she muttered, looking down at Edward, who was craning his neck to catch a glimpse at creatures in Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them. "He is starting to feel something towards her, but he's reluctant to give into emotions so quickly, as he still blames himself for having to uproot the family. But soon he'll give in and let himself start to realize how she makes him feel."
"Precisely what he needs. And she?"
"She is feeling like he is the rock she can cling to in the turbulent waters that has become her life of late. But she won't want to depend on that rock when the waters calm. That will be the true test. Will she want to be with him when there are other paths to travel?"